


New Possibilities

by kumatt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, Happy Ending, Hugs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-03 23:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12156837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumatt/pseuds/kumatt
Summary: Keith and Lance have to go on a mission together. Mistakes are made. Feels are had.Takes place some time early in season 3. Maybe after episode 3. Contains at least one spoiler.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello.
> 
> This is the first fiction I've written since I was 6, which was 31 years ago now. It's the first fan fiction I've written basically at all.
> 
> I wrote this in the style of an episode of the show. It was exciting to me to imagine something that felt as close to the characters, setting and story style of the show as possible. I think it made it all feel more real to me. It also lets me get away from long descriptions of the action, which I think I'm bad at, and focus on the dialogue, which... who knows.
> 
> Anyway, I have no idea what's good or bad about this thing I've written anymore, but I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it. I'd love to hear what you think, so long as you're kind!

The Red Lion zooms into frame and away towards a distant planet.

"The main thing I hope you take away is that I'm clearly better with Red than you were."

"Are you kidding me, Lance?"

Inside the cockpit, Lance at the controls. Keith's looking over his shoulder and is not impressed.

"I don't even know where to begin! I swear you'd crash in empty space if you could figure out how."

"You're just jealous. Jealous and wrong. Red and I are already the best." Lance is modest as always, "Why don't you let us focus on being awesome and you focus on how we're going to pull off this brilliant plan of yours."

"I never said it was brilliant. It isn't even my plan. The Blade of Malmora said we could get valuable intel from their abandoned base. I just agreed with them."

"Yeah, uh huh", Lance is ready with his best impression of Blade of Malmora gravitas, "'To thread the needle through the planet's natural defences, you will need your fastest Lion, your best paladin, and perfect timing'. We have no idea what that means, but you know, they used to call me the tailor because I-"

A complex swarm of orbiting asteroids comes into view. They form a dense layer completely encompassing the planet. It's thick, chaotic and seemingly impassable.

The fun drains from Lance's voice, "Ok... uh, setting that aside, I think the timing is wrong. In fact, it looks like it's just coming up on crushed-by-rocks o'clock in there."

"Stop trying to weasel out of this. We need you, oh paladin, because we need the Red Lion."

"..."

"... And, because you're... such a great pilot."

"Hey, thanks Keith!"

"Sure", says Keith, not quite delivering the enthusiasm. "Now, we're at the right place, with the right paladin and the right lion. Lance, this is the right time. Go for it. Thread the needle!"

"Copy that, team leader!"

The Red Lion surges away down towards the orbiting asteroids.

It swerves past the first few asteroids it encounters and finds itself suddenly in the thick of the asteroid shield. It banks wildly between the tumbling rocks.

"Hrgh!"

"Come on, Lance!"

The Lion is grazed by a few asteroids, but makes it through, deeper into the maelstrom.

"Woo! We're gonna make it!"

"Huh, we actually might."

"You know, some might read that as a lack of faith in my abilities. It's embarrassing that you can't admit I'm the fastest paladin."

Lance pushes the controls forward decisively and the Lion races deeper. It gets clipped by an asteroid almost immediately but keeps going.

"You're not the fastest paladin. You're just the loudest paladin."

Lance is leaning heavily into his controls, and making dramatic, rapid control changes, throwing his whole body into it.

"Fastest... Loudest... Best..."

The asteroids are denser than ever, but the Lion is more or less keeping pace, rolling with each new obstacle.

"I've got it all-"

Suddenly, from out of frame, a massive asteroid swings in and slams into the Lion with a boom and a plume of dust. The asteroid keeps moving like nothing happened, taking the Lion with it.

CUT TO: The Castle Dinning Room

Pidge, Hunk, Allura and Coran are hosting representatives from some of their ally planets. There's quiet, polite conversation. 

Allura leans towards the paladins at the table, "This has been much less... eventful than usual."

Pidge replies, under her voice, "Well yeah, Keith and Lance aren't here."

Hunk says, "Huh." then, "Hey, Keith and Lance will wait for the natural opening in the asteroid shield, right? I mean, it was in Coran's briefing... They won't just try to fly blindly through the asteroids... will they?"

Hunk, Pidge, Allura and Coran all look at each other.

"Crap."

CUT TO: The giant asteroid that struck the Red Lion.

There's no sign of the Red Lion now, but we can hear muffled laser blasts.

"There. It should auto-fire now.", Lance takes his hands from the controls, "It's been half an hour already. It's bound to break through eventually... 

"This sucks. We blew it. And I blame you! This mission was impossible, and you're the boss, this was your plan, and that means this is your fault." Lance finishes with his most defensive pout.

"You expect everything to be easy! It's not like the asteroids are just going to move out of your-"

From outside the asteroid, we see the orbits of the other asteroids briefly conspire to form a clear, asteroid-free pathway straight through, down to the planet's surface.

Inside the cockpit, Keith and Lance can see the same thing on the radar display. although it's already disappearing. Within a couple seconds, the opening closes, leaving no sign.

"Whoah! Did you see that? That was where to thread the needle. We should have waited! Not my fault! Back on top. Best paladin, baby!"

"Huh." says Keith, "You're right."

"I'm the best?"

"No. We should have waited."

"Well yeah."

"This is my fault."

Lance turns around to face Keith. The lion's lasers continue to fire dimly in the background.

"It's not as fun when you say it..."

"This _was_ a crazy plan. To go off on our own. To fly in head first."

Lance is confused, the gloating wind leaving his sails, "Yeah, but you _always_ do that. Why extra moody all of a sudden?"

"Because it just hit me. I can't get away with that anymore." Keith's shoulders sag. "Now it's not just me. And when I'm wrong, it's not just me who could get hurt. This is the second decision I've made as the leader of Voltron, and so far, I'm oh for two."

"Come on, Keith. I think you're overreacting. Nobody got hurt."

Keith hangs his head, "Yeah, but someone could've gotten hurt. And it would've been me who put them there.

"I mean it's one thing to stare down crazy odds and fly into battle with all of you by my side. But to lead Voltron and know I could get it wrong...

"I mean, what if Lotor attacks us while we're stuck here in this rock? What if he attacks the castle?"

Lance, now truly concerned, "Hey-"

"What if I get somebody killed? What if I get you killed?"

Looking up, Keith has tears in his eyes. Lance, finding that watching Keith cry is even less fun than hearing Keith admit that he's wrong, leans forward and gives him a hug, "Jeeze Keith. You're not gonna get me killed. I'm going to live forever."

They hug in silence for a moment, and Lance adds, "And anyway, our bad plans aren't the reason this job is dangerous. I don't know if you noticed, but there's all these other guys out there, and they're actually _trying_ to kill us."

Keith hugs Lance back and then pulls back to puzzle over this not-obnoxious side of the noisiest paladin.

From outside the asteroid, the muffled laser blasts continue. Fissures have formed in the asteroid.

Finally, with a crack, the asteroid splits to pieces, revealing the Red Lion.

Lance grabs the controls and the Red Lion races up out of the asteroids, following the path of one of the huge asteroid fragments that's clearing a path.

Inside the cockpit, spirits have lightened. Keith is almost smiling, "Thanks, Lance."

And then, suddenly, Coran is on the radio, "Keith! Lance! Where are you?"

"Don't tell anyone I cried!"

"Don't tell anyone I got us stuck in an asteroid."


	2. Chapter 2

Lance and Keith have returned to the castle. Lance is recounting his version of events. Coran, Allura, Pidge and Hunk look skeptical. Keith is watching from a distance.

"I was all like VOOOSH and dodged like a million asteroids. We totally could have made it through, because I'm such an amazing pilot, but then we decided, because we're careful and mature, to abort and wait for the proper opening."

Coran raises an eyebrow, "That's odd... there should have been an opening just a few doboshes ago."

"Haha, yeah well, everything I said is definitely true. No further questions!"

Keith realizes he's smiling.

The next opening in the asteroid barrier won't be until tomorrow, and Keith finds himself wandering the corridors, lost in thought, struck by this new idea, that Lance could be sweet and kind and maybe even likeable.

He finds himself thinking about Lance as if for the first time. He finds himself surprised at how he feels.

And so, before long, he finds himself at the door to Lance's quarters. For a moment he hesitates, then he steals himself and knocks on the door. Keith takes risks. Keith charges ahead.

After a second, the door slides open. "Oh... hey Keith."

And before anything else can happen, Keith leans in and kisses Lance. The kiss lasts for a second before Keith pulls back. Lance is dumbstruck.

Keith stares at Lance in frozen panic, and then turns on his heels and runs down the corridor, leaving Lance standing in the doorway.

Lance watches him go, still gathering his wits, "Um, what?"


	3. Chapter 3

Lance wanders into a random room in the castle, looking around.

"Keith? You in here?"

There's no response. He wanders out of the room, looking stumped.

Lance pokes his head into various rooms of the castle: Keith's room (it's locked, and there's no answer), the bridge, dinning room, the Black Lion hangar, the Red Lion hangar, and whatever other rooms he can think of.

Finally, he finds Keith in another anonymous utility room within the castle.

"Keith! I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Yeah. I've been avoiding you."

"Um, I figured. Listen, what happened-"

"Was a mistake. My specialty."

"Whoah. Too heavy, Keith. I just want to talk about it."

Keith opens his mouth, but Coran's voice interrupts over the intercom, "Lance, Keith: suit up. The next window's coming up soon. Get to the Red Lion.

"Come on, Lance. Let's get this done."


	4. Chapter 4

The Red Lion flies towards the planet and its asteroid barrier again. It arrives at a position above the shell and stops.

Coran pipes up over the radio, "Perfect. Now watch your screen and go as soon as you see the opening. I should warn you. It looks like something has disrupted the normal orbits of these asteroids, so the opening is going to be shorter and smaller."

Lance grimaces and focuses. "Here it comes."

The clear pathway forms again, and indeed, it's less clear and wide than it was before. The Red Lion springs forward and races down the pathway, dodging errant asteroids as it goes. The pathway narrows and narrows and soon it's threatening to close altogether, just as the Lion finally breaks through to the inner side of the barrier.

"Good job, Lance. Now get that data and get out of there. You don't have long before the next opening and there might not be one after that."

Keith replies, "Got it. Lance, get us down to the base."

Up close, it's evident that this planet is a barren, rocky wasteland. The Blade of Malmora's abandoned base is the only landmark. The Red Lion sets down beside the small, bunker-like building. It's dark grey, and fairly featureless.

Lance and Keith approach the entrance, their helmets closed to the vacuum outside.

Lance, over his suit radio, "You can't avoid talking to me."

"Yes I can."

The darkened, dusty corridor within the bunker is flooded with light as the exterior door slides open. Keith and Lance step in and it shuts behind them. They're in darkness for a moment and then faint illumination flickers on and air whooshes in.

Lance takes off his helmet. "Look. No radio. No Coran. Keith. Talk to me."

There's a door at the far end of the corridor. It has a small glowing slot on one side. A display lights up, and Galra symbols appear, showing some sort of countdown.

Keith is sizing up the room and doesn't even turn around, "Not now, Lance!"

He breaks into a sudden sprint towards the far door. Laser barrels spring from the walls and begin to charge. The countdown begins to beep more urgently.

Skidding to a halt at the far end, Keith draws his Galra blade and pops it into the glowing slot. The lasers deactivate, the countdown disappears and the door slides open.

Lance yells, "That was awesome!" but Keith is already walking through into the next room.

He's already working at a console when Lance enters.

"About what happened..."

"There's no time, Lance. We need to extract this data archive and get out before the next opening"

Lance rolls his eyes, but gets to work pulling out the data crystals as Keith identifies them from the console.

As he extracts the last crystal, Lance opens his mouth to try one more time, but an alarm interrupts him. Some failsafe has been triggered. Keith and Lance make a mad dash down the corridor and just manage to clear the exterior entrance before heavy security doors close behind them.

"Don't start, Lance. We gotta go."

With their helmets back on, Coran is back in their ears, "Agreed. You only have a few ticks before the next opening."

They're back in the Red Lion, up off the surface and approaching the inside edge of the barrier. The opening forms right on time. It's even more ragged than last time, but Lance manages to keep up. The opening reduces to nothing and the Lion is once again in the thick of the asteroid maelstrom. Lance has a few tense moments flying through the thick of it but manages to break through without any more collisions.

Coran breaks the silence over the radio, "Nicely done, Lance."

Lance beams and looks back at Keith, "Don't think I'm dropping this. I just want to bask in the praise for a bit."


	5. Chapter 5

Allura is alone on the bridge. She's examining holographic star charts. Lance enters.

"Lance! Well done extracting the Blade of Malmora's archive. It can tell us much about the spread of the Golra empire, and where we might find more potential allies."

She turns to smile almost conspiratorially, "And well done sabotaging the opening in the asteroid barrier. It has ensured that our enemies will never get their hands on this intelligence."

"Ah, ha ha. Yeah, we definitely did that on purpose. Anyway, I need to ask you something."

"Yes, Lance? What is it?"

"So, uh... Suppose someone... You know, someone here on the castle... Suppose they kissed you. What would you-"

"Lance, I think we've been over this quite enough. A kiss from you would be most unwelcome, and I hope we don't have to speak about this again."

"Oh! No. That's not what- But I can see why you'd think that, because of all the-"

"Yes, Lance. All of your... attempts... at charm. Now, if that's what you came up here to talk about, I think you should go."

"Oh man. That's not why, but you know what? You're right. I'm, sorry about the, uh, attempts."

Lance leaves.

* * *

Coran is in an exercise room doing some sort of strange Altean exercise routine. He's wearing strange Altean exercise clothes. It looks sort of like a Victorian men's bathing suit.

Lance enters.

"Ah, Lance! Finally joining me for some Foosgar Calisthenics?"

"Not right now... Hey, Coran, can I ask you for some advice?"

"Of course! What about?"

"Well, suppose somebody liked me..."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Lance! I like you."

"No. I mean, liked liked..."

"Oh! Romance, eh? You've come to the right place! Why, back in my day, I was considered quite the romantic!"

Coran stops exercising, and walks over to Lance with a towel over his shoulders.

"I can teach you all 14 steps of the traditional Altean courtship ritual." He pulls his feet together and adopts the lecturing posture, "First, you will need a series of sashes..."

Lance suddenly has a notepad and is about to start taking notes, "Sashes, uh huh.” He pauses and looks up, startled back to reality, “No wait! This is a terrible idea."

The notepad goes away, "Sorry Coran. No offence, but hard pass."

Lance quickly retreats from the room.

Coran shouts after him, "Well, good luck coordinating your sashes without me!"

* * *

Pidge is in her workshop working on some gadget. She seems very focused.

Lance enters.

"Hey Pidge. Can I, uh, get some romantic advice?"

"Nope."

"Fair enough."

Lance leaves.

* * *

Hunk is in the castle kitchen, in the middle of some complex culinary project.

Lance enters.

"Oh hey Lance. Wanna try some Braised Krellian Water Mushrooms?"

"Normally I would say no, but you know what, I'm hungry, and I trust your chef-ing instincts."

Lance takes a small bowl from Hunk and eats a bite with chopsticks.

"Huh. I don't know why I don't hate that," he says between mouthfuls, "but I don't hate it!"

Hunk smiles, "Right?"

"That's actually really good." Lance keeps picking at the food, "Anyway, I need some advice. I've talked to everyone else, so you're my last hope."

"Gee, thanks Lance."

"Hey, may I remind you about the nice things I said about your water mushrooms?"

"You literally said you didn't know why you didn't hate them. But whatever. What sort of advice do you need that you couldn't get from Allura, or Coran, or Keith?"

"Well, believe it or not, I need some romantic advice. And I'm beginning to think I have a certain reputation here on the castle! And it's not entirely positive!"

"You know what, I'm just going to leave that be." Hunk folds his arms, "Here I am. Hunk. Your last hope. What sort of romantic advice do you need? Bearing in mind I will absolutely bail if you're being creepy."

"What? It's not creepy. I just... Well, I think someone likes me..."

"Ok... Do you like them back?"

"Huh."

Lance is stunned into silence for a couple seconds.

Hunk leaps to his feet, "Oh no! I forgot about my Nebulian Spore reduction!" and rushes off.

Lance stays put, the bowl and chopsticks in his hands, forgotten, "Huh."


	6. Chapter 6

Lance walks up to a door and knocks.

The door opens, revealing Keith. He sees Lance and goes to close the door again, but Lance has already pushed past him into Keith's room.

"Hey!"

Lance is instantly distracted, "Your room's bigger than mine! I mean, I think it is. And tidier!"

"Big surprise." Keith replies, "Look, Lance. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you."

"Keith. Listen. Here's the thing-"

Interrupting himself, Lance leans forward and kisses Keith.

Keith stands, frozen for a moment and then his arms unfreeze and he leans forward. And then he kisses Lance back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Please let me know what you thought. 
> 
> I'm on twitter: [@mykumatt](https://twitter.com/mykumatt)


End file.
